FIGS. 1A and 1B depict side and plan views of a conventional magnetic recording head 10. The magnetic recording head 10 may be a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head. The conventional magnetic recording head 10 includes a read transducer 12 and a write transducer 20. The conventional read transducer 12 includes shields 14 and 18 and sensor 16. The read sensor 16 is typically a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor or tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor. The write transducer 20 includes a first, or return, pole 22, coils 24 and 32, back gap 26, auxiliary poles 28, main pole 30 and shield/return pole 34. As can be seen in the plan view, the auxiliary poles 28 are recessed from the ABS and have a flare angle, R. The auxiliary poles 28 are also typically the same. The flare angle is typically on the order of twenty nine degrees or less. The front surface of the auxiliary poles 28, which faces the ABS and from which the flare angle is shown is typically on the order of two microns. The width of the auxiliary poles 28 is also typically large. For example, the auxiliary poles 28 typically extend as far as the main pole 30 in the cross track direction. In some cases, this distance is on the order of eleven microns in the cross-track direction. Although not shown, the main pole 30 may have leading and/or trailing edge bevels. In such cases, the main pole 30 is shortest in the down track direction at the ABS.
Although the conventional magnetic recording head 10 functions, there are drawbacks. In particular, the conventional magnetic recording head 10 may not perform sufficiently at higher recording densities. For example, at higher recording densities such as greater than 920 Gb/in2, there are stringent reliability requirements for wide area track erasure (WATER). The conventional magnetic recording head 10 may be unable to meet these standards. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the performance of a magnetic recording head.